The feeling of emptiness

Does anyone else have it when they don't have anything in the fermenter? I just bottled a split batch mild testing out S04 vs Notty. I counted and I have 207 beers on my shelves, not including bombers and growlers, which probably contributes another 3-4 gallons of beer between them.

I now have nothing in the fermenter. I feel hollow and slightly panicky. Like, "Wait, if I have nothing in the pipeline, what if I get held up from brewing and I don't have a chance to brew something before I run out of home brew! I know that might take 6 months and I've never gone 2 months without brewing before...but it could happen! The terrorists could win!"

I feel silly for feeling that way, but at the same time, I am anxious to brew again and make sure I have something in my pipeline...even if I only have about a dozen empty bottles to actually put anything in (for now).

I technically have three in fermenters but one needs to be bottled, not kegged (sour) and one is going to age until 12/2015, so that really leaves one more. I have two empty kegs as well and won't be brewing for myself for a little bit. So yeah, I feel it.

I think part of it for me too is that I have SO much in the bottle right now, it is almost silly to brew. That said, I will be brewing my wife a Pumpkin Ale this weekend that probably won't be ready to bottle until July 4th. I am hoping by mid July I'll also be able to brew up a small batch of English Dry Stout. I really need to have some friends over to help out with my beer problem. I also really want to do a Saisson and Hefe this summer. At a minimum. A Cherry Wheat a little later in the summer would be awesome too as well as a DIPL.

So many plans, so few empty bottles :-/

I really need to move back to small batches pronto.

I have nothing in the fermentors and it is no fun. Hopefully for fathers day I'll be getting a way to control temperatures and can brew during the summer. Luckily I have about 100 homebrews in bottles so I can have a little patience.

I've been out of home brew since last Monday, and just bottled on Saturday. Dry spells suck. Trying to get a pipeline going, maybe now that teeball is over I can throw down a few weeks in a row to brew.

1977Brewer said:

I've been out of home brew since last Monday, and just bottled on Saturday. Dry spells suck. Trying to get a pipeline going, maybe now that teeball is over I can throw down a few weeks in a row to brew.

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How did you do in teeball this year? Did they move you to the outfield yet?

TheCADJockey said:

How did you do in teeball this year? Did they move you to the outfield yet?

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Picked up my trophy on saturday. It says I'm a champ.

My empty fermenter is a result of not having had the time lately to brew, in spite of having the ingredients on hand for two brews --- so many other commitments right now. I had hoped to be having a cold tripel by the annual July 4th pool party, but it may be too late to expect it to be mature enough by then. Not really feeling empty or panicky or desperate as much as simply feeling the urge to brew. Gotta keep it in perspective. Afterall, it's "only a hobby", right?

I know the feeling, I'd had it since before Thanksgiving (the last time I brewed). I also had a huge pipeline of bottled beer and kegged beer to consume. Now that we did, its time to start brewing again. Brewed yesterday and plan on brewing again within a week. Hope to have 5 batches done by mid June when our tap water really starts to heat up (making chilling more difficult).

Happy times!!

I have 5 gallons of cider aging right now, that I am going to bottle in the next week or two. Other than that I have 20 bottles and 2 gallon keg of hb left. We will be moving within a month so I can't bring myself to brew, it just wouldn't make sense. But it hurts knowing that when I get into the new house, I'll be out of beer. The new adventure will be worth it, not to mention I'll have a dedicated brewing space then.

Empty carboy's are a horrible thing.

I'm getting ready to move to Missouri in August and I'm looking at that long period of bleakness where I won't be able to brew. Generally, I plan out brews three months at a time (brewing 'seasons' if you will) and I enjoy putting the whole thing together and figuring out necessary inventory, brew schedules, etc. I've had to force myself not to plan for brewing this summer and it really bums me out.

I've already retired my 2.5 gallon fermenter that I do mead and cider in. It mocks me everytime I see it sitting empty on the shelf. Oh well, I brewed yesterday and I'm brewing this weekend, so I'll enjoy it while I can.

The funny thing is, is that I've been researching other hobbies like a maniac. I've been reading all the cheese making forums and had to physically wrestle myself away from buying a meat grinder this weekend for making sausages. It's really hard for me to sit still and not have something going on.

I've got 100ish drinkable bottles at the moment, another 50 that need extensive aging(3 months or so), a fermenter full with IPA, and the only thing I am wondering is how i get enough empties again once the ipa is bottled....

I think i have a brewing problem....also a drinking problem, I drink too slowly.

Kharnynb said:

I've got 100ish drinkable bottles at the moment, another 50 that need extensive aging(3 months or so), a fermenter full with IPA, and the only thing I am wondering is how i get enough empties again once the ipa is bottled....

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That's easy... you go out and buy bottles... pre-filled with some commercial brew you like so you have free bottles.

the reason i got into homebrewing is that commercial brews i like in finland are insanely expensive.
The basic rotgut they sell "Cheap" is barely good enough for sauna beers.

I have spells where, being retired, I can't afford to brew, but have a full pipeline. Pipeline is gone, & finally got to where I can brew again, so I've got about 3/4's batch of kottbusser ready in bottles, 5 gallons of Irish red of my own design nearly ready to bottle & a dry stout that'll become my new version of my whiskely. I already reworked the Irish red recipe, having tasted the 1st FG sample a lil bit ago. Nice little buzz from that. But dang, I need a few styles ready now, so I can enjoy my own beers. So much beer around, & not much to drink. Gotta save some too for when we help my #2 son & his fiance move into their house. That month is also our 40th high school reunion & one guy I knew since junior high wants to sample my wares on that day. Gotta keep brewing, at least till sometime in early June, to be ready by then. At least one more batch. Then on to another saison or two.

Kharnynb said:

I've got 100ish drinkable bottles at the moment, another 50 that need extensive aging(3 months or so), a fermenter full with IPA, and the only thing I am wondering is how i get enough empties again once the ipa is bottled....

I think i have a brewing problem....also a drinking problem, I drink too slowly.

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Just occured to me that my 207 bottle count didn't include the half a dozen in my fridge or the case of RIS sitting under my oil tank aging for the next 6-12 months.

I just have so many plans. Lighter beers and smaller batches I think are the way I am going to start going. Other than maybe an occasional holiday/winter warmer, I think I am going to brew mostly light beers (<5.5%) with the occasional batch of really heavy beer or seasonal that needs the extra alcohol (IPA, DIPA, RIS, Barley wine, Tripple, etc.) where some need to be consumed right away and some are going to be around for the next year or two. That way I can go through it faster and brew sooner.

Until my daughter moves into an apartment I only have space for one refrigeration device that alternates between keezer and fermentation chamber. So, I can't brew until I finish the last batch. unfortunately the dry spell seems to fall when I'm most busy, but we move the daughter later this week, so we shall see how space opens up! Presently my cycle time is about every 2 months minimum and I'd like that to be 1 month maximum between brew days. If not for craft beer I'd have no beer at all at times.

I've been scaling back from 23L/6Gallon batches to 17-20L 4,5-5 gallon batches, it's easier to boil and it fits in 2 crates of bottles.

Kharnynb said:

I've been scaling back from 23L/6Gallon batches to 17-20L 4,5-5 gallon batches, it's easier to boil and it fits in 2 crates of bottles.

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My ideal size is roughly 2.75G. Fits in my 3 gallon carboys without generally needing a blow off tube. And unless very high gravity generally yields enough beer to full a case plus a bomber or two (I use bombers to take final gravity readings, because why not?)

Also at that size in the off season where I don't have a lot of people drinking my beer, that is roughly the amount I can personally go through in about 3-3.5 weeks, which means I brew roughly once a month and every once in awhile I'll brew twice in a month.

Which is generally to say, I never do that and I often end up with 4-5.5G batches (because 5 gallons is almost as easy to brew as 2.75G and doesn't take much extra effort to bottle), too much beer and then I am "wasting it" by plying it on all and sundry, using it in cooking, doing 3/4 pours because I am too lazy to wait for the head to die down and just dump the 2-3oz out of the bottle down the sink, etc, drinking too much and lamenting about my liver, my heart burn and how I probably could stand to cut back and try to lose 10lbs.

But damn that homebrew is so good.

Yep, I think when the fermenters are empty and the pipeline is pretty full, it's an opportunity to go with small batches...experiments and whatnot.

Malty_Dog said:

Yep, I think when the fermenters are empty and the pipeline is pretty full, it's an opportunity to go with small batches...experiments and whatnot.

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Speaking of...I have 3x1 gallon glass jugs in my order cart for the next time I order up some supplies in bulk. I want to try doing a Scotch heather ale and alternate teas. I did one with chamomile last year that was dreamy. This time I want to try 1 with chamomile, one with earl grey and maybe one with oulong or white tea.

I hadn't got round to brewing, I watched my stock get lower and lower, I kept drinking them, it was odd drinking the last few, then it was really bad not having any, I had no beer and nothing fermenting for about three weeks, it was orrible!
I now have two fermenters full so 80 bottles are on their way but damm that's still going to be four more weeks before I can have one.
It must never happen again , I have given myself a thorough rollocking.

I used to get this way early in my brewing hobby, but lately with going to 10 gallon batches, if at least 2 kegs are not full, I get more of that emtpy feeling than the fermentors being empty.
Brewing larger batches for me actually allows me to brew less to keep the pipeline full which helps with time management for other projects.
It also allows for those batches that really need to age a bit to be all they can be (stouts/porters, etc.) which makes for better beer.

I brew about once to 2 times a month max now. I used to be brewing every week at some point to keep the pipline stacked. Made slotting in other projects a stress point for me personally which I did not like.
That all being said, I have 3 fermentors stacked in the temp controlled freezer(10 gallons of edworts bavarian hefe and 5 of biermunchers octoberfest) at the moment so no empty feeling here but again..I have not brewed in 2 weeks. Thats all from one brew day.

SWMBO will not allow the conditions to exist that cause this feeling of which you speak.

I'll let you know in about 2 weeks. We are putting our house on the market, which means that my homebrew supplies & fermentation chamber are going into storage.

I don't know that kids and life would allow me to brew weekly, even if I wouldn't mind if I could brew every week. I can generally manage monthly though. Every once in awhile I can do back to back brews. Those are often both awesome and exhausting days (and hard on my liver. Because you need the brew or two during each brew, and then the couple or more HBs after the day is done and everything is cleaned up to toast the soon to be beer).

brick_haus said:

SWMBO will not allow the conditions to exist that cause this feeling of which you speak.

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You fortunate man

Yeah, but it's a good kinda tired! For me, brewing, say, on Saturday & Sunday is an exhausting but fulfilling weekend.

unionrdr said:

Yeah, but it's a good kinda tired! For me, brewing, say, on Saturday & Sunday is an exhausting but fulfilling weekend.

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Agreed.

I just bottled the last 5 gallons of the 15 total that I brewed for my sisters wedding. I have about 100 more bottles in the beer fridge so I'm running pretty low on 12 oz bottles. I have about 30 bombers free and another 50 or so 12 oz bottles that need the labels taken off but they are all of the "hard to remove" variety. I need to brew a batch soon as baby number 2 is due mid July. I'm hoping SWMBO is picking me up a couple kegs for Father's Day as I have been not so subtly talking about getting some the past couple of months.

I'll turn this another way. How about having three brews going and none quite ready. Guess I should just use the last empty fermenter.

We brew back to back 11.5 gallon batches (one mashes while one boils) every so often and split them. Most of the beer is consumed at my house so when I run out my brew buddy just brings a couple 1/2 full kegs of whatever he has to my kegerator and we know it's time to brew a few weekends in a row again. I am down to 1/2 keg of stout, and a borrowed keg of BMs Centennial Blonde so we brewed 5gal of cider, 11.5 gal of Amer. wheat and 11.5 gal of spotted cow this past weekend and will brew a blind pig IPA and and another BM Blonde next weekend. Should get the pipeline caught back up! I get nervous though, especially in the summer. Had both my boys home 2 weeks ago and they went through 3 kegs (well, I helped)!!


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I am not sure if I am looking forward to or dreading when my kids are of drinking age and will "help out" with drinking my brew.

I'll probably need to upgrade to a 10 gallon setup for those few years when the kiddos are coming home from college in the summers and what not. At least I've got 12+ years before I need to worry about that.

It's great when they leave and even better when they come back!!! They are both marines so they have had a bit of practice being rowdy and partying. I'd be happy to brew more if I could get them home more!


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brewcat said:

I'll turn this another way. How about having three brews going and none quite ready. Guess I should just use the last empty fermenter.

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Sounds like you just need to buy more carboys. It is why I am up to two 3 gallon, one 5 gallon and two 6 gallon carboys as well as a 6 gallon bucket. I've had all of them full at the same time a couple of times now.